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October 05, 2009

Attack on Ayatollah Boroujerdi for advocating Secularism and Separation of Religion from State

On the wake of the third anniversary of the violent attacks and the unlawful detention of Mr. Boroujerdi, along with hundreds of his followers, Iran’s state-run Media started new efforts in assassinating Mr. Boroujerdi’s scholarly and humanitarian characters. For instance, on October 1st the Keyhan Newspaper published its unfounded criticism of Mr. Boroujerdi’s widespread activities for the establishment of secularism and the separation of religion from Iran’s state.Despite the support and backing of well-know and highly respected individuals and organizations, such attacks have taken place against Mr. Boroujerdi, a liberal, opposed to dictatorship. Seyyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujedi had even been invited to make a presentation at the 5th annual conference on Peace and Religion, held on March 27th, 2009 at Kennesaw State University.Mr. Boroujerdi’s invitation letter was sent to his lawyers by Professor Susan S. Raines, Chair of the Peace Conference Committee.

His lecture notes investigated methods for Democratization and Secularization in Iran. The executive committee that introduced Mr. Boroujerdi on the basis of the statements made by Amnesty International wrote: Ayatollah Seyed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, a 50-year-old Shiite’s cleric, is currently imprisoned in Evin Prison in Tehran for his peaceful religious opinions. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience. The committee also mentioned efforts taken for his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

However, even though the abstract of his lecture, entitled “Secularism,” was sent to the conference, as a result of Mr. Boroujerdi’s imprisonment, he was unfortunately not allowed to participate in the conference.In this paper, Mr. Boroujerdi claims that turning to secularism is Iran's only salvation for physical and spiritual regression. He writes: “At present, the time of accepting rudeness under the name of "Qur’an’s verses" has come to an end. People are tired of unjustified and illogical does and don'ts.”